A Moment in Time
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter (and associated characters, likenesses, concepts, etc.) belongs to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. AOL/Time Warner, Inc., among others. I make no claim, written or implied, upon Harry Potter. No money is being made and no infringement or disrespect to the creators / copyright holders is intended.
Warning: This story will contain slash (ie. male/male relationships) and mpreg, although neither will be graphic.
A/N: This story was inspired by the many wonderful stories that I have read and enjoyed here at fan fiction and any similarities to existing stories is not intended. This story is AU, meaning that the events that occurred in the OOTP have not been taken into account and I am in no means suggesting the material described in this story should be considered as a direct interpretation of cannon. Also, I am American so I apologize in advance for any Americanisms.
Chapter Twenty Four - The Ambush
Draco hurried though the castle, his thoughts happier than usual. The war had clearly turned a corner and more importantly, Harry seemed to be doing better. While they weren't exactly winning, they certainly weren't losing as bad as they previously had been. The resistance had certainly blossomed under Harry's unofficial leadership. If Harry thought that he was famous before, it was nothing compared to what people thought of him now. The only difference is that now, even Harry couldn't argue that it wasn't deserved.
People respected and admired Harry for the man that he was, not for the legend he had been. It was amusing to watch when battle plans were discussed how the fighters would look to Harry to determine what his role in the upcoming confrontation would be and then scramble to be included in the squads deployed near where Harry would be fighting. Everyone knew that Harry had the best chance of being successful, and more to the point, people just felt safer when Harry was nearby.
Harry alone had managed to save countless lives both muggle and wizard since his return; his strength and determination where unmatched, as where his superior magically abilities. It had only been about three and half months since they had come back to Hogwarts, but in that time, Harry had completely won over the populace, without even trying to. There was no doubt in his mind that when this thing was all over that the wizarding community would be on its knees begging Harry to provide his guidance in a more official capacity. 'Not that that'll ever happen,' Draco chuckled to himself. Harry would take off running in the opposite direction if anyone even suggested such a thing to him; that is, he would run after he had thoroughly hexed the person brave enough to suggest it.
Harry himself had started to change as well, no longer quite as standoff-ish as he had been when they had first come back. Sure, he was still reserved, especially around people who he had known before his imprisonment, but he participated in discussions that he felt were useful and had even on a rare occasion been seen sharing a smile or a laugh with someone.
Just thinking about watching that beautiful face alight with genuine laughter, Draco was reminded of the Halloween fun that he had with Harry and the twins just a few short nights ago.
Flashback
Draco watched as Harry ran his hand through his already tousled hair, causing the few strands that hadn't already been standing on end to get up and join their neighbors. Draco would have chuckled at his mate's antics if he weren't so concerned. Today was Halloween and for whatever reason, Harry Potter and Halloween just didn't seem to mix.
Never, in all the time that Draco had known Harry, did a Halloween pass that something bad didn't happen. Not only was the day forever marred as being the anniversary of his parent's death, but the day had historically been filled with other unpleasant events, such as: fights with fully grown mountain tolls, basilisk whispers and petrified cats, his name being pulled out of the Goblet of Fire and a variety of other not so wonderful happenings. Needless to say, both Draco and Harry were just anxious to have this day over and done with.
The two men had just entered their apartment after spending the afternoon discussing war strategy and battle tactics with members of the Order, when they were attacked by two bundles of black fur. Playfully rolling with the attack, Harry fell to the ground, pretending to be wounded, immediately giving surrender before turning the tables on Matthew. The young boy squealed with laughter as Harry rolled the toddler over onto his back and began to tickle his tummy.
Surprised to see his sons dressed up as some sort of animal, Draco quickly followed Harry's example and was soon lying underneath Evan, who was growling and pretending to scratch at his face. Soon bored with that game, the toddler rolled off his father and crawled on all fours over to where his brother was playfully wrestling with their daddy.
After the twins had successfully subdued Harry and they had caught their breaths after laughing so hard, Draco couldn't help but ask, "So why are you two all dressed up?" He was still puzzled by their costumes.
Matthew stared up at his father, his dark green eyes wide with disbelief. "Trick or treat." His tone left no doubt in Draco's mind that his son thought his question had been very dumb.
Draco pulled his eyes away from where his young son was standing in front on him wearing what could only be described as a black leotard. The body suit had black fur on the cuffs, collar and around the ankles. He had a long black tail, and on perched on top of his head were black fur ears sticking up out of his messy black hair. On the child's face were whiskers and his nose had been charmed pink and appeared to be twitching slightly. His twin was dressed identically. Giving Harry a searching look, he asked, "Am I to understand that our sons will be pranking people dressed up like black cats?"
Harry tried to hide his grin with his hand as he yawned tiredly. "Well, not exactly. They will only prank them if they don't get a treat."
"I see," Draco said slowly, still not understanding the concept. "And you're okay with that?" he asked, as he shot Harry a concerned look. The tiredness that had been plaguing Harry seemed to be improving some, but Harry's energy level was still unusually low.
"Oh come on Draco, it's a Halloween tradition. Little kids get dressed up in costume and go door to door asking people for treats. Usually, the people will give the kids a piece of candy and then the kids move on to the next door. But if the people don't have a treat for the children, well then, the kids are permitted to play a small trick on the people, hence the name 'trick or treat'. Surely you went when you were a child." Nicole, who had designed the boys' costumes, laughed at the horrified expression on Draco's face. Sometimes that man could be so, well, English.
"Absolutely not. You are not going to turn my children into common beggars. I can't believe that you would even suggest such a thing." Draco glared at the nanny. "Besides I'm a Malfoy, we never asked the neighbors for anything, if we saw something that we wanted we either bought one or more often, just took it."
Harry rolled his eyes. He knew that the twins had gotten in the habit of trick or treating last year in California and that this particular Halloween tradition wasn't something widely done in Europe. Not that he would have had the opportunity to go as a child had it been, but surely Dudley would have jumped at the chance to go door to door demanding candy.
Harry hugged his soul mate. "Look Dray, it's only one night a year, and it is a lot of fun for the twins. Besides they have been looking forward to it all month, don't spoil it for them, alright?"
"Dumbledore's even given his blessing to having the kids in the castle perform this 'American' form of celebrating the holiday," Nicole added, seeing that Draco was still undecided.
Draco tried to look anywhere but at the people standing in front of him as he thought about this weird custom, but everywhere he looked he was reminded of Halloween. It had appeared that Nicole and the boys, with the help of a few house elves, had decorated their apartment for the holiday. Carved jack-o-lanterns with eerie faces were light with never-ending candles, and pictures of black cats, white globs, that Draco assumed to be ghosts, and ugly women with green faces and long crooked noses decorated the walls.
Not able to resist the four sets of pleading eyes, he caved. "Okay, I give up," Draco sighed. "So if we are going to do this we are going to do it right. What kind of pranks do you have planned?"
Nicole only spared the four heads clustered together in the midst of a very serious discussion one last glance as she just shook her head in disapproval as she went upstairs, glad that the boys were going to get their way.
Later that evening, after a light dinner, the twins in costume were finally ready to head out. Nicole had graciously elected Draco and Harry to accompany them on their outing while she would remain behind in the unlikely event that someone actually found their apartment and asked for candy. As they were getting ready to leave, Evan looked over at his parents, neither of which could have been convinced to wear a costume despite Nicole's best attempts at bribery. "Daddy cat," the young toddler demanded.
Harry grinned. "No, not this time Evan."
"Daddy cat." This time it was Matthew demanding that his daddy do something.
Draco caught on quickly. Harry had never specifically revealed his third animagus form, but he had seen it a couple of times when Harry was off by himself, usually when he was running and needed to get away from things for awhile. "Go ahead Harry. It's perfect. No one will know it's you."
Harry wasn't really surprised that Draco knew about his cat form. He hadn't been deliberately keeping it from his lover, but he hadn't gone out of his way to tell him either. The boys loved all his forms, but they especially liked him as a black panther. When the boys were smaller, sometimes when they took their afternoon naps, Harry would curl up next to them and put them to sleep with his deep rumbling purr.
Harry gave a small nod and then moments later where he had once stood was a large cat. The panther's fur was the darkest of black without any of the red tints that are commonly found in some black animals. His form was sleek and athletic, powerfully built for both speed and agility. His fur was silky, smooth and soft, and his eyes were the same deep emerald green.
"Daddy cat, Daddy cat!" the twins started to cheer over and over again, clearly excited. It was obvious that they had spent a fair amount of time with this particular panther and most likely had Nicole design their current costumes to look like him.
"Come on guys, let's go," he said and when Draco thought no one was listening, he added under his breath, "and get this over with as quickly as possible."
Hearing his mate's last sentiments, the panther growled and bared his teeth slightly in warning.
"So I guess you have extra sensitive hearing now as well," Draco said, calmly ignoring his mate's warning, as they made their way into the main section of the castle.
The night had certainly been an adventure. They weren't the only group that had decided to get dressed up and go trick or treating, but they certainly were the only ones with a black panther accompanying them. Ignoring the looks that the panther was getting, the boys soon started knocking on doors and shouting "Trick or Treat".
Only about half of the inhabitants had completely understood Dumbledore's announcement about the Halloween activities. Those that had gotten the message had wonderful treats prepared for the children, which they quickly stuffed in their never-ending sacks after quickly getting out a 'thank you'. Those that hadn't gotten the message had been in for a big surprise.
Harry had made Draco promise that he wouldn't interfere with any of the tricks the twin's had planned unless the situation became dangerous. Not seeing how two three-year-olds could possible perform a dangerous prank, Draco agreed.
It didn't take Draco long to figure out why Harry felt confident that the twins would be able to adequately take care of their own pranks. These two weren't blood related to the leader of the marauders and the infamous Weasley twins for nothing. A man opened the third door that they had come to. He clearly hadn't heard about trick or treating before as he didn't have any treats prepared for the tikes. The twins only frowned for a second before they looked over at each other. Before Draco realized what was happening, the man was standing there in bright orange robes and purple hair. The man hadn't even realized that he had been pranked before he closed his door.
The twins looked at each other again and started to laugh. Their laughter was contagious and soon Draco was howling right with them. When he calmed down, he leaned down and whispered into the panther's ear, "more wandless magic?"
The panther smirked and nodded.
The night pretty much continued on that way with either the twins getting a treat or the person answering the door getting a make over. As the night wore on, Draco was extremely impressed with not only the amount of control over wandless magic that his young sons' exhibited, but also with their creativity. Some of the colors that they came up with were pure genius.
One of the boys' knocks brought a pair of red headed men to the door. "Hey Charlie, we got some Potter cats at the door." Fred smiled down at the two boys he had only seen from afar.
Charlie, also welcoming this opportunity to greet his nephews, even if they really were his great nephews the Weasleys considered the Potter twins as nephews as they never had the opportunity to consider Harry as a nephew. "Well, if it isn't two every handsome kittens?" Charlie said enthusiastically as he knelt down to get a better look at the boys.
"Hey Charlie, Fred." Draco greeted the two Weasley men amicably enough. "So where is Bill? I thought he was living here with you now?"
Fred looked up at the tall slender blonde man who had just protectively placed one of his hands on each of Harry's sons' shoulders. "Bill is spending tonight up at Ron and Hermione's helping to take care of mom, as Hermione is taking their daughter out trick or treating." Draco's possessiveness of not only Harry but also Harry's sons wasn't lost on Fred. People didn't realize it as he and George were forever joking around during school, but had they decided to apply themselves while they were in school with something other than pranks, they could have competed for top marks with every little effort.
Fred was very observant, and because people had the tendency to underestimate him, he often found himself at the advantage. He knew that Draco and Harry appeared to be very much in love, hell someone would have to be dumb not realize that it was so obvious. But Fred often wondered exactly how long the two men had been involved.
Now staring up close into one of the twins' steely eyes, Fred thought he may have the answer to the question most often asked around the castle since Harry's return. Fred just discovered who the 'mother' of Harry's children was.
Fred quickly tore his eyes away from the young Potter boy only to get caught in the glare from an almost identical, albeit older pair.
"Anything wrong Fred?"
Draco's softly spoken question had just enough venom in it to serve the warning that Draco couldn't verbalize in their current setting.
"No Draco, nothing's wrong. I was trying to get a closer look at my nephew. We haven't been formally introduced." Addressing the children once more Fred offered the one standing closest to Draco his hand. "Hi, my name is Fred and I'm your Uncle, what's your name?"
The black panther growled low in his throat when Fred called himself their Uncle. However, his growling soon stopped when Draco gently kicked him on his side to shut him up. Draco's only response to his mate's look of pure anger at being shushed was to raise an eyebrow. Evan looked at first the panther and then at Draco for permission before he responded. 'Well there are certain unobtrusive advantages to Harry being in disguise,' Draco thought as he nodded encouraging his sons to greet the Weasleys.
After the boys had been formally introduced, Draco indicated that it was time for them to move on. Charlie reached behind him and brought out a bowl of brightly wrapped toffee candies and offered them to the twins. Harry head butted Draco just as Matthew was about ready to reach in some hand in the bowl to grab a handful of the candies.
"You know what; I think we're going to pass. You two enjoy the rest of your evening." Draco winked at Fred before pulling a resisting Matthew away from the tainted candy bowl.
By the time they came to Black's door, Draco was wishing that the Marauder wouldn't have any treats as he liked to see what the twin's would do to him. It was really too bad that Sirius answered the door holding a large bowl filled with muggle candy bars. After slipping a few extra into the boys' treat bags, Sirius stepped back to admire the boys' costumes. "Hey Moony, look who we have here."
Remus soon joined his roommate at the door. "Well if it isn't one, two…..three black cats." Remus looked quizzically at the third cat, a green-eyed panther, trying to figure out what was familiar about the beast. There was something that Remus was sure he was missing. Suddenly, Remus took a deep breath, realizing that the cat smelled exactly like Harry.
Harry was cursing himself for allowing Draco and the boys' into talking him into going out in this form. It was dangerous. He knew the moment that Lupin put it together that he was the panther.
"So Draco, where's Harry?"
'God Bless my oblivious Godfather', Harry thought as he kept his almond shaped cat eyes trained on the werewolf.
"He couldn't make it; he's going to try to catch up with us later," Draco lied.
"Well, I guess that I'll see him back at your apartment. I'm planning on stopping over later tonight to spend some time with Nicole."
"Yeah, like that's something new. I think you spend almost as much time in the apartment as Harry and I do," Draco replied sarcastically. The heavy flirting between Sirius and Nicole had finally materialized in the form of a date in mid September. Since that time the two of them tried to spend as much time together as their hectic schedules permitted. Not that Draco minded. He was really very happy for the both of them.
The twins were getting impatient to go on to the next door in search of more treats, although Draco was positive that they would never be able to finish the loot that they had already stuffed into their sacks. "Gotta go, treats to be gotten and people to prank."
But before they moved out of the doorway the marauder's hair had been transformed, Moony's a bright neon yellow with red tips, and Padfoot's a pale pink with lime green swirls randomly interspersed throughout. The twin's eyes' got huge when they saw the change. Hurrying his family along to the next stop, Draco could barely contain his chuckles. "So, which one of you did that to your Grand Godfather and his friend? And he had just given you all those candy bars too, that doesn't seem fair."
Matthew was horrified that his father would make them give their candy back for not playing by the rules. "Not me, I didn't do it."
Knowing exactly what his brother was thinking, Evan vehemently denied being involved with the prank as well.
The innocent expressions on his sons' faces looked too genuine to be faked. "Well if you two didn't do it, and I didn't do it, that only leaves one other candidate. Harry?"
The panther's only response was to start to purr and rub his head up along Draco's thigh. Draco knelt down and scratched the large cat behind his ear. "You know, that animagus are not supposed to be able to do magic while in their animal form? But then we're not really supposed to be able to do wandless magic either, so I guess in a messed up Potter way of things, it actually kinda makes sense."
The only real problem that they had run into all night was when the boys got ready to knock on one of the doors situated near where the old Gryffindor dormitory used to be and Harry tried to stop them. Harry had gotten between the twins and the door and didn't want to let them pass. The twins had tried to circumvent daddy cat but ultimately, Harry had gotten his way and the door was left undisturbed.
Harry could sense that door lead to the apartment where Hermione and Ron lived. He didn't want to deal with any more Weasleys this night. He had felt bad for the family when he had learned of all the tragic things that they had to endure since he had been arrested, and he certainly had felt terrible about Molly's current condition. If there was one Weasley that he would consider making amends with it would be her, but her current mental condition didn't allow for that. Harry was hopeful that maybe one day he would be able to spend some time with her. She deserved justice for what she went through. She deserved the truth, and Harry was determined to make sure she got it, if only she would be coherent enough to understand it.
Tired and ready to go back, the twins insisted on one last stop before they headed home, the dungeons. Draco glared at Harry when the panther once more growled in protest, and the panther decided to keep the rest of his opinions to himself.
A quick and painless visit to Severus, and the twins were loaded up with even more chocolate frogs. Draco winked at the panther when Snape complained that Dumbledore had made him go out and get candy for the castle brats and then not one of them had even bothered to come and dirty them selves by visiting the dungeon. It was nice to know that some things would never change.
Back at the apartment, the boys had emptied their treat sacks into two very large piles of treats. Which after their parent's had inspected for any suspicious looking items, picked one or two pieces from each pile that they deemed needed to be taste tested and gave the boys permission to dig in.
Sirius had arrived shortly thereafter, still sporting his new look. Eventually, Harry took pity on the older man, it was hard to woo someone in pink hair, and turned his hair back to normal.
Overall, the night had been a welcome change to a traditional Hogwarts Halloween. The night was filled with fun and laughter and Draco was grateful, not only for the joy in his sons' eyes but also for Harry's sake. The night had certainly distracted the raven-haired man from his Halloween blues. Who knows, maybe this marked a new age in Potter Halloweens.
End Flashback
Still lost in his own thoughts, Draco continued to hurry. He was late. Harry was sure to be waiting for him by now, as he was supposed to meet him over twenty minutes ago. Unfortunately, he had gotten tied up with Severus discussing his latest modification to the dreamless sleep potion. Based on the research he conducted in his incredible potion lab, he was able to remove all addictive qualities from the dreamless sleep potion. This would certainly be an advantage when patients needed to take this type of potion on a long term basis.
Draco smirked when he remembered that his Godfather had been absolutely giddy over this latest discovery. Well, as giddy as Severus Snape ever got, this wasn't more than wide-eyed and speechless.
This wasn't the first potion that Draco had been able to modify thanks to the books and potion ingredients left by the Founders. Draco shook his head ruefully; it was a shame that so much of the Founder's knowledge, especially Slytherin's brilliance in potions, had been lost until now. Focusing on the potions typically used in the hospital wing, Draco and Severus had been able to make improvements in many of them, either improving their potency, and or duration, or reducing any adverse side affects.
Severus had enlisted Draco's help in trying to improve the Wolfsbane potion for Remus. So far they hadn't had any major breakthroughs, but Draco thought that they may be close to one soon.
Smack
Draco cried out in pain as his head hit hard against the stone wall. Draco had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard someone approaching him from behind and as a result had been caught unaware. Draco found himself roughly turned around and pressed up tight against the unyielding wall in the hallway. Before he could even utter a sound in alarm, his lips were captured in a brutal, almost punishing kiss.
As he processed what was happening, Draco proceeded to shove hard against the firm chest of the person that had pinned him into the wall. Unfortunately, the body holding him down didn't move more than a few inches.
"Hullo, lover."
Draco angrily tried wiping a hand across his mouth in an attempt to rid himself of the awful taste. He was unsuccessful as his assailant had his wrists trapped in an iron grip over his head. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"I've missed you, luv, and I thought maybe you needed to be reminded of just who you belong to," the man responded in a harsh whisper.
Draco stopped struggling long enough to look his former lover in the eyes. "Let go of me Blaise," Draco snarled. "I don't belong to you, and I never did, now… let… go."
Blaise only chuckled, which only further raised Draco's ire, not lessening his grip on the blonde man, not one bit. "Oh, I'll let you go, but not until I'm done with you."
If a person had the ability to burn someone with their eyes, there would be no doubt that Blaise would be roasting in the pit of Hell by now. Blaise was one of the Order's other spies that had infiltrated the Death Eater ranks, not part of Voldemort's inner circle, Blaise was still useful. After a particularly horrible and upsetting mission about two years ago, where a family of muggles had been tortured and then killed, even their three small children, Draco had turned to Blaise for comfort. From that time on, the two men had been on-again/off-again lovers; each seeking to forget the atrocious things that they were forced to do, forced to witness in each others arms.
While Draco knew that his heart wasn't really in the relationship, being with Blaise at least offered him the physical release that he needed to get through some particularly trying times. But now, it appeared that perhaps their times together had meant more to the dark eyed Slytherin than it had to him.
"It's over, Blaise."
"Is it? I wouldn't be so sure of yourself, if I were you, Draco. The Dark Lord was particularly interested when I told him all about Harry being his Grandson and an Heir of Slytherin."
Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You bastard, you sold us out."
"Now, now Draco, I did no such thing. Surely you remember how it is Draco? You must give a little to get a little, and I was particularly rewarded for that piece of information. If only he had known that all those years ago, Harry may not have been an orphan, the Dark Lord most likely would have spared his own daughter and had taken Harry to train him, and he probably would have been his heir," Blaise said smugly as he leaned in close and brushed Draco's cheek with his lips. Moving his mouth only slightly, Blaise whispered into Draco's ear, his hot breath making the blonde man wince.
"Of course that was nothing compared to the reward I got when I told him about Potter's two sons, both of whom are Parselmouths, just like their dear old Great Grandfather. You see Draco, Voldemort is smart enough to realize that Potter is a lost cause, no amount of brainwashing will ever turn him, but two small impressionable children, especially two with their unique heritage will be extremely powerful when they grow up. Well, needless to say, there is much potential there."
The deliberate threat to his children gave Draco a burst of adrenaline, enough so that he could finally jerk his wrists free and push the offensive body away from him. "You bastard, do you have any idea what you've done?" Draco's voice shook from the all consuming fear that was sweeping through him as he imaged what would happen if Voldemort ever got a hold of the twins.
Draco pulled his wand on his former housemate, ready to seek retribution for his family.
"Do you even want to know what happened to your father, Draco, when the Dark Lord heard that you had turned, that you had become nothing more an a whore, Potter's whore at that?" Blaise just wouldn't shut up; he just kept going on and on. Before Draco could finish uttering a hex that while not illegal was certainly considered a dark spell due to the amount of pain it bestowed on the recipient, Blaise was pulled around to face in the opposite direction, away from the blonde.
Blaise's eyes barely registered the outrage on the Gryffindor's face before he was punched hard in the face.
Harry didn't even spare Blaise crumpled form a moment's thought as he pulled a shaking Draco to him. "Are you alright?"
Draco nodded, feeling the air around them crackle with unspent energy. "Yeah, Merlin I hate that bastard." Draco walked over to where Blaise was lying unconscious on the cold stone floor, and kicked the man in the arse. "Did you hear…?"
Harry tried not to smile as Draco took his revenge on the defenseless man. "Yeah, I was coming to look for you when I heard what he said about telling Voldemort about me and the boys," Harry confessed quietly.
"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Draco was still very much shaken up. "We have to do something; we can't just let him have Matthew and Evan."
Harry walked over to where Draco was still applying random kicks to Blaise's backside. Standing beside his lover, Harry reached up and gently cupped Draco's face, pulling his focus way from his retaliation. Seeing that he had Draco's complete attention, Harry slowly started to caress the side of the blonde's face, gently moving his thumb up and down the smooth cheek.
"We won't. I promise you," Harry whispered as he finally pulled Draco away from Blaise's still unconscious form. "Dray, nothing's really changed. I knew by telling the Order that the news would make its way back to Voldemort. Actually, I'm surprised that it took this long for him to find out. But seeing that it was Blaise that told him, at least we know now that no one else inside of Hogwarts sold us out. And believe me, that is something that I needed to know."
Draco jerked back from Harry in surprise. "You set this up," he gasped, incredulous. "You planned this from the beginning, offering this oh-so-juicy bit of information to be set before everyone to determine how long it would take the news to reach the Dark Lord and to flesh out any potential traitors."
Harry didn't deny Draco's accusations.
"Merlin Harry, sometimes I think you are more of a Slytherin than I am. I understand why you did it, but why use something that will focus the Voldemort's attention on the boys like that?" Draco was worried and feeling a little hurt that Harry hadn't let him in on his plan.
Harry reached over and took one of Draco's hands in his own. Seeing his mate flinch slightly as the long tan thumb gently touched the blonde's wrist, Harry frowned and brought Draco's wrist up into the light so that he could closely examine it.
His eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched when he saw the angry red marks on his mate's wrist that were sure to leave bruises. The torches in the hallway flared almost as if in response to Harry's newly reawaken anger. Determined to make Zabini pay even more for his actions, Harry went to move towards the man, planning to awaken him and then knock him unconscious at least a few more times.
Knowing intrinsically what Harry was planning, Draco stopped him with only a glare.
"What?" Harry whined.
"You know what." Draco sneered. "Now leave that bastard alone, we'll deal more with him later and answer my question."
Disappointed, Harry took a deep breath to release some of his anger. "Look Dray, when I made the decision to bring the twins to Hogwarts I knew that they would become targets anyway. By letting this information out when I did it served two purposes. First, it allowed me to take my life back from Dumbledore, something I've needed to do for a long time. People needed to hear what had been kept silent for too long."
Draco nodded for Harry to continue.
"Secondly, I knew that between you and me, and Sirius, and Nicole and Severus that we would do everything in our power to keep the boys safe. But if, for some God awful reason, Voldemort won this war, or got passed our defenses and managed to kidnap the boys, that the first thing he would do would be to murder them, just like he's killed every one of the other members of my family." Harry's voice cracked slightly.
"But you see Draco, if Voldemort thought that there was more to the boys then just me being their father, if he saw his relationship to them, the potential in them, maybe he wouldn't be in such a rush to kill them."
Draco's pale face broke out into a grin as he saw where Harry was going with this. "So by letting that monster know that the twin's are his descendents and descendents of Salazar Slytherin, you are in a round about way protecting them."
Harry nodded. "There isn't a Death Eater alive foolish enough to kill the Dark Lord's Great Grandsons, not when they could be possibly converted."
Draco continued with along Harry's train of thought. "And that would give us time for a rescue attempt."
"Yeah," Harry said softly as he looked away from his lover.
Sensing that there was something else, Draco gently took Harry's chin and turned his face back toward him. "What else?"
Harry raised his uncertain eyes. "It's just that there still is a chance that we might lose this war."
"And?"
"Well no matter who wins, I just wanted to ensure that the twins would survive." Draco had to strain to make out Harry's words; his tone was so soft.
Draco looked sharply up into the face that he loved more than his own, "Leo, do you even realize what you are saying?"
Harry ran a hand thought his messy hair, pausing to put his jumbled thoughts into some semblance of order. "Yeah, I thought of little else while in California after we made the decision to return here. Look, if we are defeated, you and I are both dead, as are Sirius, and Severus. We've gone directly against the Dark Lord, there is no way that he can allow us to live even if he wanted to, which he doesn't. I don't even want to think what will happen to Nicole. The new world that would be created after our fall isn't the place that I would choose to raise the boys, which is why we are fighting this damn war. But given the choice of that world or no world, I want them to live." Harry paused again. "Besides, before I died I would make sure that Lucius knew that the twins were yours as well as mine. I think that between the two of them, Voldemort and Lucius, the twins would be taken care of."
Draco reached up and brushed a stray tear off Harry's cheek.
"God Dray, that isn't the life that I want for them, but at least it is a life." Harry was desperate to make Draco see his reasoning, no matter how horrible and flawed it was.
The depth of Harry's willingness to do whatever it took to ensure the survival of their children blew Draco away. If possible, his love for this man grew even more at that moment. "I love you."
Harry looked in disbelief at the acceptance and love shining in the stormy gray eyes that he could spend hours just gazing into. Relief that Draco didn't hate him for what he had done was so strong that Harry crushed the blonde in a tight hug. "I love you too. Never doubt that."
Feeling the strong surge of emotion pass from Harry, Draco pulled back and smiled at the slightly shorter man. "I take back what I said earlier Leo, you are more Slytherin than I could ever hope to be."
"Well I guess I should be, since I have his blood running through my veins."
Draco just grinned as the two men set off for their apartment, leaving Blaise Zabini still lying out cold on the hard floor.
Later that evening, a very relaxed and sated Harry and Draco cuddled together in their bed were interrupted by a knock on their bedroom door.
"What do you want?" Draco shouted not at all pleased with the intrusion.
"Harry, its Albus. He's calling on the fireplace in the common room. There has been some sort of emergency and he needs to speak to you right away," came Nicole's muffled voice though the heavy door.
Sharing a quick glance at his partner, Harry called out, "Tell him we'll be right there." Scrambling into their discarded clothing that was strewn around the room, a few moments later, the two slightly wrinkled men entered the common area.
Seeing Albus Dumbledore's disembodied head floating in the fireplace, Harry made a beeline straight for that end of the room. "What's happened?"
If Albus was surprised by the lack of pleasantries, he didn't show it. During the last three and half months, he had gotten used to Harry's direct and to the point approach.
"The scouts that we sent out yesterday haven't reported in. They have missed their last two scheduled firecalls, and I am worried." The headmaster did indeed look rather upset.
"Who?"
"It was Anderson and Kendall," Albus answered softly.
Harry sighed. Anderson was a young man, no older than eighteen, who's training Harry had been personally overseeing. There was just something about that man that reminded Harry of better times. He should have known not to get personally involved, but he did.
"Harry, normally I wouldn't have bothered you with something this small, but seeing as it was…."
Harry interrupted his former Headmaster. "No, that's quite alright. Is the Order going to meet to decide what to do?"
"Yes, we are gathering now in the Chamber if you and Draco would like to join us?"
Not having to even look at his mate, Harry knew that Draco would insist on being included if Harry was going to be. "Give us five minutes and we'll be there."
Agreeing, Albus ended his call.
Nicole agreed to stay with the twins, until someone came to relieve her as she was scheduled to work a shift that night in the hospital ward.
Quickly saying goodnight to Matthew and Evan, the two men left for yet another mission.
It had been decided in the Order meeting that they would send a party of about ten witches and wizards out to look in the area that Anderson and Kendall had last reported in from. The scope of their mission was two fold, first they were to locate and bring Anderson and Kendall back to Hogwarts, and secondly they were to determine if there was any new Death Eater activity in that area.
Draco was proud that Harry didn't even bat an eye when both Charlie and Fred Weasley and Remus were named to the rescue mission. Sirius would, of course, also be accompanying them. During their time fighting in the last few months, it was clear that Charlie, Bill and Fred along with Sirius and Remus were among some of the best fighters that the light side had to offer. As it was, Harry often found himself fighting along side one of his former friends, and had been able to do so without any major problems. In the beginning, Draco was worried that Harry's lack of trust would be an issue and make it practically impossible for him to rely on one of them to watch his back, but after the first couple of battles, that didn't seem to be the case. Draco hoped that this was another sign that perhaps Harry was healing.
The area that they were headed to was only about 75 miles south of Hogwarts. Since the area that Anderson and Kendall were originally sent to scout was approximately ten square miles, it was determined that brooms would be the best mode of transportation, as opposed to portkey or apparating. However, everyone on the team carried an emergency portkey directly to the hospital wing, in the event of unforeseen events.
The contingency of ten made their way quickly across the night sky, keeping to a tight formation. As they approached the last known whereabouts of their scouting team, the flyers slowed to a speed that had they been on the ground would have been described as crawling.
The area over which they were currently flying was heavily wooded which made it difficult to see properly, even though most of the trees had already started to lose much of their brightly colored fall foliage. It was the perfect spot for a Death Eater hideout, which is why the scouting mission had been sent out in the first place.
Concentrating on how it felt to be in his phoenix animagus form, Harry focused his vision sharply. Soon his eyes were accustomed to the darkness and his vision improved dramatically. He could see almost as well as he could when he was transformed into a phoenix.
There, he spotted something. It looked like there was a splash of red, down on the forest floor. Motioning to his companions to descend to a clearing that he had spotted a short ways from where he had seen the red object, he started to land.
Harry didn't even notice the rest of the team landing as he was focusing on a strong magical presence he felt in the forest. Something seemed off.
"What's up? Did you see something?" Sirius asked coming to stand next to his Godson.
"Yeah, there is something red in the forest about 100 yards in that direction." Harry replied.
Sirius, who was officially the leader of this exhibition, sent two of their party off to investigate what Harry had seen in the forest.
"Do you feel it?"
Surprised, Sirius looked over at Draco who was also looking at his mate strangely. "Feel what Harry?" Draco asked, his sharp tone leaving a misty impression in the cool night air.
"Something's wrong here." Harry paused trying to make sense out of what he was feeling. The magic was strong, but it appeared that there was a damping charm on it, almost as though someone didn't want the magic to be sensed. Harry gasped, dread filling his stomach. "We need to get out of here now. I think that this is a trap."
Before he could even get the sentence out, spells started to be thrown at them from the forest edge all around them. It was an ambush, and they had walked right into it.
"Fly..Fly!" Harry shouted as he dodged three spells that had been fired in his direction. Taking a quick glance around, he noticed that the team were all in the process of flying away. It appeared that most of the spells were being concentrated on him and not on the others, which was just fine with him.
Another spell sizzled passed as Harry caught a whiff of burnt hair. Not wanting to think how close that spell had come, Harry turned and fired at least five stunners in the direction of where that spell had come from. Harry tried to cast a shielding charm on him self, but for whatever reason the charm failed, the damping charm must be interfering with his ability to erect a proper shield. After trying a few more times to erect a shield around him, Harry gave up and, instead, focused on dodging and blocking the incoming curses and when possible sending a few of his own spells back.
After making sure that Sirius and Draco had gotten into the air, Harry knew that it was time for him to get out of there. Harry mounted his broom and kicked off hard from the ground.
As he started his ascent, Harry looked down and watched as over two dozen Death Eaters poured out of the trees and came into the clearing where they had just been, only a moment ago.
Spells were still zooming in all directions, each one lighting up the night sky with its own brilliant color. Watching the colorful bursts all around him, Harry was strongly reminded of the last Fourth of July that he and Draco had spent with Nicole and the boys in California watching the fireworks.
A sharp pain in his side brought him back to reality. Damn, he had been hit with what looked to be a slashing spell of some kind from the blood that was starting to seep through his robes.
Turning his broom back around, Harry quickly fired off a barrage of spells, mixing both full body binds and stunners, along with some of his own special pain curses. Harry grinned as he took out at least four Death Eaters with that attack.
Noticing that his comrades were now safely out of spell range, Harry once more turned his broom and made to follow. He didn't have time to even accelerate before he was hit with another spell; this time a stunner. Harry felt the spell wash over him. Thankfully he had been able to absorb part of this spell, so instead of leaving him unconscious, it only left him slightly dizzy.
Using some of the books that the Founders' had left in the library across from his bedroom, Harry had found the means to absorb certain spells into his magical aura. This technique allowed the person that the spell was being cast on to remain largely unaffected by the spell. However, the spell's effects varied significantly based on the spell's potency.
Draco and Harry had practiced this new skill for weeks until they both were able to absorb spells somewhat, although the technique left them both feeling incredibly drained afterwards. The book in the library did caution the reader that the unforgivable curses would not be able to be absorbed, due to the severe nature of the curses and the amount of power used in casting them.
Shaking his head to clear it from the dizziness, Harry felt the wound on his side start to throb; he knew that he needed to get out of there now. Flying higher, Harry tried to get beyond the range of the Death Eaters' spells. Just as he thought he was going to make it, he was hit again. His brain had barely registered the shouts of "Stupify!" and "Crucio!" before he was once more experiencing the terrible all consuming pain of the Cruciatus curse while at the same time struggling to remain conscious.
A fair distance away from the ambush that the Death Eaters had planned the Order members stopped in the air to regroup. Draco quickly looked around noting immediately that Harry was missing. "Sirius, where's Harry?"
The alarm in Draco's voice, alerting Sirius to the problem, even before his words had a chance to register.
"You," Sirius pointed to one of the younger members of their team, "land at the next available spot and using your portkey go tell Dumbledore that it was a trap. Tell him we need reinforcements now and to put the hospital wing on standby!"
The Order member nodded and took off on his broom as fast as it could go in search of a place to land.
Looking at the other remaining members of the team, Sirius said, "Let's go." No one questioned the logic of the seven of them going back to fight an unknown number of Death Eaters, all that was understood was that Harry was in trouble. With a look, they all agreed that whatever the risks were, it was worth it to make sure Harry was safe.
Pulling up along side Sirius, Draco was not about to give the lead on this mission to anyone other than himself. Silently agreeing that they wouldn't come back unless they had the dark -haired man that they both loved with them, they quickly accelerated their brooms back in the direction that they had just come from.
His body already weak from fighting off the previous stunning curse, it took Harry a longer the second time, but he finally managed to shake off the effects of the Stupefy curse. Focusing all his will power, Harry was able to diminish the effects of the Cruciatus curse until the Death Eater lifted it. However, with all his attention on trying to deal with the affects of the curses currently cast on him, he hadn't been able to make any progress in his attempt to get away. As the last of the curses fell away, to Harry's dismay, he realized that he was hovering still in the air about 65 feet from the ground.
With his last burst of energy, Harry once more pushed his broom forward. Just as he was about to escape he heard three more shouts, "Stupify, Stupify, and Stupify." Just as the first curse hit him, Harry's scar started to burn fiercely, leaving no doubt about whom had sent at least one of the stunners his way.
Harry struggled once more to remain conscious, but the spells had been cast almost at the same time. He didn't even have time to start to absorb the first curse before the second one hit him, blackness had started to creep into his field of vision by the time the third and last curse hit, this one exponentially stronger than the others.
Harry didn't even feel his hands slip from the broom as the darkness that he had been so gallantly fighting off overwhelmed him.
Racing back to where he had last seen Harry, Draco watch horrified, as three stunners were cast on his lover simultaneously. Draco cried out as he saw Harry falter and then fall.
To be continued.